Great Food, Great Sex The Three Food Factors for Sexual Fitness

1 What's Under the Hood Pushing Freud Out of Bed The sexual needs of men and women may differ categorically, but there is considerable overlap, particularly with regard to function. And in terms of our understanding of sexual function, science has come a long way, baby. Drs. Masters and Johnson were the first to bring sex science into the bedroom more than thirty years ago. They carefully mapped out and described the hydraulics and the mechanics of the "sexual act." Based on their daring and astonishing scientific observations, they showed how men and especially women go through distinct stages of sexual arousal before one can insert "tab A" into "slot A." It took many years for the mechanics and physiology of sex to seep into psychiatry and sex therapy. Armed with theories about the Oedipus conflict and other assorted obscure neuroses, conventional psychological wisdom fought Masters and Johnson tooth and nail. Men, but more often women, were made to feel that their sexual problems were "all in their head." This bias kept many patients from ever admitting they were suffering from sexual dysfunction. Even today, many of us have little to no knowledge of the basics of sex and sexuality. Despite the sexual revolution and easy access to information about all aspects of sex, a recent article in Cosmopolitan magazine (October 2003) featured instructions on how to "find your G-spot" (Rush, 2003). It seems that even among the well educated, savvy, and sophisticated, there is a dearth of important knowledge about sexual landmarks. This is a book about enhancing sexual vitality and performance by extracting the constituents that fuel it from three selected food categories. This is not a book about reproductive biology. However, as experts in the health and behavioral sciences, we are often astonished at how little many people know about their sex organs and how they work, and how often that ignorance impedes their sexual satisfaction as well as their emotional well-being. This next section is a guide to the most relevant anatomical and physiological details of our sexual equipment. Knowing how our sexual organs work will also help you understand how and why the program offered in Great Food, Great Sex works. Here are the knowledge and the power to make you an expert in keeping the necessary plumbing in tip-top shape. In the long run, satisfactory sexual performance depends mainly on maintaining proper cardiovascular function so that when you are sexually aroused, blood flow to the sex organs increases as needed to engorge the tissues of those organs. For men, this is experienced as an erection, while for women, it may be perceived as warmth and lubrication of the vaginal tissue. The biochemical sequence that translates amorous arousal into physical arousal creates a cascade that's similar in men and women, but by no means identical. In addition to visible changes that occur during sex, complicated chemical activities go on in the body. An extremely basic explanation of the key steps in sexual arousal (omitting a number of intermediary enzymes that play a key role in this sequence but add little to our understanding of the sequence) is as follows: The brain releases acetylcholine (ACh) as a result of sexual arousal. The bloodstream carries it to the blood vessels in the sex organs, where it signals the vessel lining, the endothelium, to release a gas, nitric oxide (NO). NO then causes the endothelium to release a vasodilator substance, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). cGMP relaxes the blood vessels and causes increased blood flow to the sex organs for erection in men or engorgement in women. ACh v NO v cGMP = physical arousal After sex, the enzyme phosEdlen-Nezin, Lynn is the author of 'Great Food, Great Sex The Three Food Factors for Sexual Fitness', published 2006 under ISBN 9780345483980 and ISBN 0345483987.